Premankur Atorthy (1890–1964) was an Indian novelist, journalist, and film director. He was involved in

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

and Bengali cinema.''Encyclopedia of Indian film'' article on Atorthy

Early life

Atorthy's was born in Faridpur and his initial schooling started at Brahmo School,

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

. He then studied variously at Duff School, Keshab Academy, City School and Brahma Boys Boarding and Day School, which were then under the

University of Calcutta The University of Calcutta (informally known as Calcutta University; CU) is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate State university (India), state university in India, located in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Considered ...

. His father, Mahesh Chandra Atorthy, was a propagator and writer of the ''

Brahma Samaj Brahmo Samaj ( bn, ব্রহ্ম সমাজ, Brahmô Sômaj, ) is the societal component of Brahmoism, which began as a monotheistic reformist movement of the Hinduism, Hindu religion that appeared during the Bengal Renaissance. It was ...

''. Atorthy was imaginative and fond of adventure from boyhood. Failing to do well in his school, he ran away from home. At Bombay he learnt to play the

sitar The sitar ( or ; ) is a plucked stringed instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent, used in Hindustani classical music. The instrument was invented in medieval India, flourished in the 18th century, and arrived at its present form in ...

under Ustad Karamatullah. Returning to Kolkata, he started working at a sports goods shop in Chowringee. Subsequently, he worked for the Baikali, Yadughar, Hindustan, Bharatvarsha, Sangkalpa, Nachghar and Bharati.

Works

He was a noted novelist and playwright, author of many books including compilations of short stories, essays (e.g. on silent film, cf. Atorthy, 1990) and plays. His best- known literary work was ''Mahasthavir Jatak'' (1944), a fictional autobiography in four volumes noted for its irreverent portrayal of Calcutta's early 20th-century élites. Among his other novels are ''Anarkali'' (1925), ''Bajikar'' (1922), ''Achalpather Jatri'' (1923), ''Chasir Meye'' (1924), ''Dui Ratri'' (1927) and ''Takht Taus''. Associated with literary journal ''Bharati'', he edited ''Nachghar'', one of the first performing arts journals to take film seriously, with

Hemendra Kumar Roy Hemendra Kumar Roy (2 September 1888 – 18 April 1963) was an Indian Bengali writer noted for his contribution to the early development of the genre of children's literature in the language. He was a noted contributor to the early development o ...

and film- maker Pashupati Chatterjee. He founded ''Betar Jagat'', the journal of the AIR, Calcutta (1929). He started as scenarist and actor, using the pseudonym Krishna Haldar, at Indian Kinema Arts (''Punarjanma'', 1927; ''Chasher Meye'', 1931). He remade ''Punarjanma'' in 1932. He joined B. N. Sircar's International Filmcraft as writer and assistant to Prafulla Roy (Chasher Meye is based on Atorthy's novel and script). He also scripted Nitin Bose's ''Buker Bojha'' (1930). Premankur entered the cinema world with a role in the Bangla film ''Punarjanma''. His first directed film, ''Dena Paona'', was New Theatres' first talkie, made in direct competition with Madan Theatres' ''Jamai Sasthi'' (1931). He made several Hindi films as part of New Theatres' effort to enter the North Indian market, including the classic film of

Agha Hashar Kashmiri Agha Hashar Kashmiri (born Muhammad Shah, 3 April 1879 – 1 April 1935) was an Urdu poet, playwright and dramatist. A number of his plays were Indian Shakespearean adaptations. Early life He started to show interest in stage dramas and mo ...

's play ''Misar Kumari'' to ''

Yahudi Ki Ladki ''Yahudi Ki Ladki'' (The Jew's Daughter) is a historical Urdu play by Agha Hashar Kashmiri, on the theme of persecution of Jews by the Romans. It was first published in 1913. The play became his best known work, and a classic in Parsi-Urdu theatr ...

'' (1933). His film versions of literary classics, e.g. from Saratchandra Chattopadhyay (''Dena Paona''), Rabindranath Tagore (''Chirakumar Sabha'') and Bankimchandra Chattopadhyay (''Kapal Kundala''), established the élite literary film genre intended to distinguish New Theatres' films from routine stage adaptations and remained important signifiers of high art in Bengali cinema. First Bengali film-maker to work in Western India, e.g. for Kolhapur Cinetone (1935) and for Imperial (1936). Credited with the supervision of H. K. Shivdasani's ''Yasmin'' (1935), made by the Krishna Studio.

Filmography

Director

Writer

* '' Sarala'' (1936) * '' Bhikharan'' (1935)... aka ''Song of Life'' (India: English title)

Actor

* ''Chasher Meye'' (1931) ... aka ''Farmer's Daughter'' (India: English title)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Atorthy, Premankur People of British India 20th-century Indian male actors Bengali film producers Film producers from Kolkata Bengali film directors 20th-century Indian film directors Male actors in Bengali cinema Indian male film actors Bengali writers Indian male screenwriters Film theorists Bengali-language writers Film directors from Kolkata University of Calcutta alumni 1890 births 1964 deaths Screenwriters from Kolkata 20th-century Indian dramatists and playwrights Male actors from Kolkata Brahmos 20th-century Indian screenwriters Novelists from West Bengal People from Faridpur District